I've had this dress form for several years,and have been meaning to fix her up for ages. Last time I tried,I just got depressed about how much bigger I had to make her and abandoned the idea,but inspired by a post on Craftster I decided to just get on with it.
I got her from Freecycle about,urmm 4ish years ago. She was a bit broken,too small for me and her stand was snapped.
I had already replaced her stand with that from an old standard lamp (also from freecycle).
so using my measurements,lots of duck tape,an old bra (that still fits),some wadding,pins and a tube of rib knit,I transformed her.
She's not perfect (who is?),but she's a very good approximation of me,and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.
If you click on the above pic you can see her transformation in stages on flickr.
(and yes I do keep her in our ensuite!)
I think she needs a name,any suggestions? I quite like Delores.
I've been feeling really yukky this week. I started the week with an awful sore throat,swollen glands etc,but determined to ignore it...that's what us Mum's do isn't it? No time to be ill!
i did manage to get through most of the week,but yesterday it all caught up with me and I was in my pj's by 6pm,and in bed by 8pm feeling very fluey and ill.
This morning though I've got up to two lovely parcels to cheer me up. First a fab parcel from Amy Schimler,two prints from her Etsy store,and she also sent a little postcard and bag of orange licorice ducks...how sweet!
Second a sewing pattern I've wanted for a while,and reminded about it this week reading A Dress A Day,I decided to finally buy it.
So the weekend is off to a good start. Now for my second cup of tea before starting on some custom orders.
Two little girls I know are having birthdays this week,these aprons are for them.
While I'm here I may as well add the skirt I made for me too.
I finally got around to making the curtains for the dining room today. I started decorating the dining room a few weeks ago during half term,but I still haven't finished.The skirting boards still need another coat of paint,and the floor needs new edging.
The curtains can be ticked off my to do list now though.
I used the gorgeous Drawing Room fabrics by Anna Maria Horner. I just love the sketchbook fabric.
And yes,that's my washing hanging out in the garden...just pretend you can't see it!
First strawberry from the strawberry plants,and the first salad pickings too,both delicious!
In my Doris Day fantasy world,I'd wear this while watering the plants in my garden with a pink plastic watering can!
So, I went ahead and placed an order with Spoonflower for three yards of the fabric I finished designing yesterday. I'm actually terrified that it's going to be a dreadful design when it's printed,but also hopeful it wont be dreadful.
I started to sort through some of my vintage sewing patterns for inspiration,found this lovely dress and couldn't resist having a play to get an idea of how it might look.
This is fun!
I've become ever so slightly obsessed with fabric designs,repeats,and my new wacom tab. this is one result I'm happy with.
I started with a collage..
Which became this painting....
And finally the design above.
I think I might be brave enough to get this one printed,and even add it to the Spoonflower flickr pool.
I treated myself to a Bamboo Fun graphics tablet on Friday,and have become slightly obsessed over the weekend. using the pen is quite instinctive really,but figuring out the technical stuff has had me stamping my feet a few times,and poor old Woody has had to come to my rescue on more than one occasion!
I'm slowly slowly getting my head around it,and this butterfly image is one completed piece I'm ok'ish with.
I've been trying to sort out some designs to get spoonflowered,unfortunately this piece doesn't repeat,but these more simple pieces below do....now if I could only get them the right size to get printed.....
Today Sid and I have been sorting through some of my old sketchbooks looking for inspiration. Sid found some collage pieces I'd done of sea creatures and immediately recognised them from some pieces of fabric he had seen in one of my fabric storage boxes. He insisted on getting the fabric out and matching the collage pieces to the shapes on the fabric.We played this game for a while,and then he announced that this small tester piece was his "starfish toy". I was so touched,who knew when I was making these fabrics 18 years ago that they would one day make my youngest child so happy?
So here we go,a pale blue minkee backed blankie for Sid.
When I first heard of Spoonflower a few months ago,I tried not to get too excited. I haven't designed fabrics for printing in a long while,and back in the days when I was designing,we used paint brushes,gouache,and then set squares and tracing paper to work out the repeat!
So all the talk of pixels and JPEG's and TIF's sent my head in a spin!
I pushed all thoughts of Spoonflower out of my head until last week when a friend reminded me. I registered and got my invite almost immediately...arhhh! I wasn't expecting that!
Now my head is in a spin again! I NEED to do this,but my cobwebby old brain is struggling!
Sometimes projects just kinda develop as you sew them.This podeagi is one of those. I started off playing with some embroideries,then picking up fabrics and trims as they seemed appropriate.
I quite like the result,it's girly and summery. I can imagine it being the kind of podeagi Laura Ingalls might have worn her babies in when she grew up...if I'd been around to sew it for her.
I was at a talk in Manchester by Veronika Robinson of The Mother magazine, author of "The Drinks Are On Me"and tv noteriety as an extraordinary breastfeeder.
Veronika has always struck me as being serene and glowing with health,whenever I have seen her in photographs and on tv,and she is both of those in the flesh too.
I enjoyed the talk,it's always nice to have your own thoughts on breastfeeding validated.
We decided to take a couple of days off last week to go camping. After arriving in Criccieth in the pouring rain,and spending a soggy night, the sun came out and we had beautiful blue skies. Perfect for a visit to Portmeirion where the blue of the sky was stunning against the seaside colours of the village.Everywhere I looked there was a view to lift the spirits.
Arriving early meant we had the village pretty much to ourselves for a while. I must admit as more and more people arrived the village began to lose some of it's appeal,so we retreated into the woodland gardens until poor Sid was too tired to walk,and we decided to leave. (dozy me had left the sling in the car!)
